13th December 2017
To: All Mandate Members
From: John Douglas, General Secretary

Well done and congratulations to Mandate members regarding the publication last week of a government Bill which sets out a legally enforceable mechanism for greater security of working hours (banded hours). See link to Bill here.

The publication of this Bill is in no small part attributable to the ongoing campaigning by so many of our members – particularly in Dunnes Stores – towards securing legislation to protect workers affected by insecure hours contracts.

Whilst we celebrate the publication of this legislation, there is still much work to be done to get it passed by the Oireachtas and to influence certain amendments to improve on it. Two major changes we are seeking are:

Reduce the proposed hourly bands proposed to a maximum width of 5 hours

Shorten the ‘look back’ period for calculating average weekly hours to 12 months or less.

We must continue to scale up our lobbying efforts to make this happen. Please make every effort to contact your local TD’s and Senators by calling at their local constituency offices or clinics, phoning them or emailing them. And if you have not done so already sign the online petition here.

If you have any queries about the proposed legislation please contact your local Mandate office.